What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma
In May I was served papers from a collections company representing a previous landlord I had 3 years ago. They sued me for breaking the lease, I lived there for 4 years on a 12 month lease that she would renew each year. The suit states that I left 6 months early, breeching the contract. I don't know if there is a huge misunderstanding or ulterior motives or what, but I was asked to leave the property early by the landlord herself. I signed paperwork stating I was leaving early with approval, what my last month's prorated amount would be, and my move out checklist signed by the landlord. I have copies of all of that plus my rental records she gave me in emails telling me "thank you for understanding and leaving on such short notice, sorry this didn't work out longer, etc" she was moving to Maine and had some other plans for the house I was renting and needed it back.
So that was 3 years ago, then 2 months ago i get the papers served to me out of nowhere saying I owe for those last 6 months. It seemed to me I had an obvious open and shut case with all my documents proving why that is incorrect. In my mind, when I got served the papers I would then file a response including copies of everything I have. The collections company would realize there has been some kind of error and would dismiss the case or the judge would.
But then, I called my father to ask advice, and was told that sending him copies of what I have is the LAST thing i want to do. That would be "showing him all my cards" and their lawyer would just figure out a way to use them against me. My dad says all the time about how he grew up around lawyers and knows a lot about suits and the law and such, so I respected his input. I did what he said, in response to the served papers I wrote back a simple 1 page legal response with a vague answer of denying all claims on each line.
Dad said they're just trying to scare you with a lawsuit, once they see you'll fight back they'll drop it, if they don't then just don't send them any of your evidence until we can request a court date and go in front of the judge and pull it all out at once, catching them by surprise.
Well surprise, they aren't dropping it. After that first response I filed, they filed another one with pages of interrogatories and claims that they said I had 30 days to respond to each one and answer. Basically they were questions like "Is this Jane Smith?" "Did you sign a contract from this date to this date with this person?" "Did you leave early?" "Why do you feel you do not owe the back rent?" and I said ok dad, let's go through one by one and answer, then send them copies of my stuff. I'm pretty sure they just want to know what I have, and why I don't owe the money.
No no, he said. That's just what they want you to do, type up an answer sheet and on every line put "Absolutely denied, burdensome. Request court date". I guarantee they'll drop the case after they see that. They don't want to go to court. I started to be hesitant at this point about following what he said but I mean I'm 29, never been in a lawsuit before so what do I know?
So then a few days ago, the lawyer for the company filed a "motion to compel discovery" which is basically asking the judge to force me to produce what documentation I have, it said things like "because of the defendants elusive and evasive answers previously we are requesting she also be responsible for our attorney fees and court costs for time spent dragging this case out with no merit" which I mean I agree I feel like I'm just giving them half ass responses, and they probably genuinely want to know if they are wasting both of our time or not and why. I feel like just filing a legit response with actual explanations of the what happened, with copies of my paperwork is what I should do.
But even still my dad says hell no we're not showing them anything, you can tell we're getting to them bc they're so worked up about this, which means our plan is working and we just have to stall a little longer and they'll drop it. And I just want to say ok dad, but what if they don't? They don't seem to be? I'm worried if I keep listening to him ill dig myself into a hole I can't get out of. When I should have just listened to my gut originally. But again, I don't know anything about lawyers or the law.
What do you think?
In May I was served papers from a collections company representing a previous landlord I had 3 years ago. They sued me for breaking the lease, I lived there for 4 years on a 12 month lease that she would renew each year. The suit states that I left 6 months early, breeching the contract. I don't know if there is a huge misunderstanding or ulterior motives or what, but I was asked to leave the property early by the landlord herself. I signed paperwork stating I was leaving early with approval, what my last month's prorated amount would be, and my move out checklist signed by the landlord. I have copies of all of that plus my rental records she gave me in emails telling me "thank you for understanding and leaving on such short notice, sorry this didn't work out longer, etc" she was moving to Maine and had some other plans for the house I was renting and needed it back.
So that was 3 years ago, then 2 months ago i get the papers served to me out of nowhere saying I owe for those last 6 months. It seemed to me I had an obvious open and shut case with all my documents proving why that is incorrect. In my mind, when I got served the papers I would then file a response including copies of everything I have. The collections company would realize there has been some kind of error and would dismiss the case or the judge would.
But then, I called my father to ask advice, and was told that sending him copies of what I have is the LAST thing i want to do. That would be "showing him all my cards" and their lawyer would just figure out a way to use them against me. My dad says all the time about how he grew up around lawyers and knows a lot about suits and the law and such, so I respected his input. I did what he said, in response to the served papers I wrote back a simple 1 page legal response with a vague answer of denying all claims on each line.
Dad said they're just trying to scare you with a lawsuit, once they see you'll fight back they'll drop it, if they don't then just don't send them any of your evidence until we can request a court date and go in front of the judge and pull it all out at once, catching them by surprise.
Well surprise, they aren't dropping it. After that first response I filed, they filed another one with pages of interrogatories and claims that they said I had 30 days to respond to each one and answer. Basically they were questions like "Is this Jane Smith?" "Did you sign a contract from this date to this date with this person?" "Did you leave early?" "Why do you feel you do not owe the back rent?" and I said ok dad, let's go through one by one and answer, then send them copies of my stuff. I'm pretty sure they just want to know what I have, and why I don't owe the money.
No no, he said. That's just what they want you to do, type up an answer sheet and on every line put "Absolutely denied, burdensome. Request court date". I guarantee they'll drop the case after they see that. They don't want to go to court. I started to be hesitant at this point about following what he said but I mean I'm 29, never been in a lawsuit before so what do I know?
So then a few days ago, the lawyer for the company filed a "motion to compel discovery" which is basically asking the judge to force me to produce what documentation I have, it said things like "because of the defendants elusive and evasive answers previously we are requesting she also be responsible for our attorney fees and court costs for time spent dragging this case out with no merit" which I mean I agree I feel like I'm just giving them half ass responses, and they probably genuinely want to know if they are wasting both of our time or not and why. I feel like just filing a legit response with actual explanations of the what happened, with copies of my paperwork is what I should do.
But even still my dad says hell no we're not showing them anything, you can tell we're getting to them bc they're so worked up about this, which means our plan is working and we just have to stall a little longer and they'll drop it. And I just want to say ok dad, but what if they don't? They don't seem to be? I'm worried if I keep listening to him ill dig myself into a hole I can't get out of. When I should have just listened to my gut originally. But again, I don't know anything about lawyers or the law.
What do you think?
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